Fragments
by 110-percent-crazy
Summary: One second. That's all it takes. One second and suddenly everything you knew and held dear is ripped away forever. How do you rebuild your life after something like that?
1. Chapter 1: Cadillac

Chapter 1: Cadillac

A battered old Nissian chugs along the highway in the misty twilight. The probably should have been scarped years ago but from the excessive amount duck tape holding the corner of the bumper together that the occupants were unwilling to part with the vehicle. Currently there were two people sitting up front. A stoney silence filled the interior and the tension was so thick you could have sliced it with a knife and served it with a side of salad.

The driver sat straight-backed, concentrating on the road ahead. He kept stealing glances at the boy hunched in the passenger seat. The boy sat in the closest thing to the Foetal position that can be achieved while sitting shotgun. His face was neutral but the driver could see he was upset. His eyes had a 'storm in a teacup' quality to them as he fought to keep his compositor. He told himself he would not cry. He would not break down at something as simple as this and especially not in front of his Dad. So he stared at the road ahead and tried to keep his emotions in check.

Percy was not good at this emotional crap. He was known for being oblivious and tackless and when it came to talking about feelings he always felt like he was in over his head. Annabeth always handled this kinda stuff. Usually he was the one who made the mugs of tea and supplied the Kleenex and awkward man hug. But that wasn't going to work this time. This time he was going to have to take the rains and pray that he would say the right thing. The silence was killing him and he really did not want this to ruin the start of their trip. He had been looking forward to spending a weekend on the beach with his family and he was determined that everyone would have a good time. He decided to dive in at the deep end and hoped for the best.

"You know she didn't really mean it"

"Yeah, well I think she did Dad"

This was not going how he imagined it. He had hoped that Mark would perk up and believe his words and everything would be great again but it never works like in the real world. Marks reply was curt and snappy but it betrayed all the feelings of hurt he was trying to bottle up. He knew that Annabeth didn't mean it but it still hurt to hear her say it. He knew that she was stressed with work and that it was said as a result of that stress, but it's hard to forgive and forget when the one person you trust the most calls you an idiot. He couldn't help but feel as if he had let her down and ruined the relationship that had taken him years to achieve. He knew his mam would forgive him but that didn't help him feel any less hurt. They trumbled along in silence for another few miles as the scenery changed from city scape to sprawling countryside.

"When we first met every third word out of her mouth was idiot. 'You're an idiot. What are you doing idiot? Don't be such an idiot.' It's a minor miracle we even got together. Thalia said it was obvious we liked each other but she really could have fooled me."

Percy chuckled at that. He was totally blind when it came to matters of the heart. It took a few near death experiences to put everything in perspective. Mark was silent and Percy was afraid he had said the wrong thing. He really hoped he hadn't because if he had he had no idea how to fix it. He really hoped that he could solve this problem before they got to Montank because be really did not want to drag his mother into this family feud. She had enough problems with her own family without him piling his on her as well. Her relationship with Paul was going strong but the string of miscarriages was starting to take its toll on the poor woman. The last time Percy had seen her she was just a shadow of the woman she used to be. Her skin had an unhealthy sheen and her bones stuck out giving her a skeletal look. Sally Bolfis was a strong woman and it took a lot to break her, but this looked like it just might. Percy did not like seeing his mother like this. She did not deserve this. She was his rock, his guiding light. When all had seemed lost in the past Sally was there to rally his emotions and give him hope. Seeing her like that scared him more than anything else he had faced in his life. The thought of losing her…he didn't want to think about it. Paul had been changed by the event too. Gone was the man Percy might have mistaken for a TV actor. In his place stood a haggard man who looked like he held the weight of the world on his shoulders. Grief surrounded his like a second skin but he tried to be strong for Sally's sake. As much he hated the thought of losing the child he did not want to think about how it would feel if he lost Sally. Percy was so deep in that depressing thought that he nearly missed Marks come back.

"Well if a tree could see it before you that's saying something about your intelligence"

"Brat"

The tension mellowed out after that and even though Percy was still a little concerned he could see Mark was getting over the scolding Annabeth had given him. They began discussing what they had planned for the weekend and the mood picked up. Mark was determined to beat his dad at surfing this year and hopefully build a somewhat decent sandcastle when they tried to compete with Mam. Dad had the befit of using the water to hold his monstrosity together but it was never structurally sound and if he lost concentration the whole would collapse into a mound that often resembled a pile of crap. Mam's castles were always the best. They stood on their own with no outside help and often towered into the sky. There would be more than one room and once it even had a working canal system running through it. Mark had spent the whole of the last week working on his design for this year. He was sure he could win or at least match his mother. His dad wasn't really in the competition but his mam liked to humour him. There was one time that he had constructed something half decent but then mam had decided to distract his by planting a kiss on his cheek. The whole thing had disintegrated and Mark could not stop laughing at the look of disbelief on his father's face when he realised he had been tricked.

They had to stop for gas about half way and by then everything was fine again. Percy didn't know what would happen when Annabeth joined them on Saturday but that wasn't high on his list of priorities right now. At the top of that list was trying to get the stupid gas machine to except his twenty. He had straightened it out six or seven times and still the thing kept spiting it back at him. He had no other notes and they really needed the gas. Mark had gone into the kiosk to get them a pick me up but he was paying with coins. He could feel himself getting angry at the thing and he had to resist the urge to punch it. All that would do was hurt his hand and definitely wouldn't help his plight. He rested his head against the thing in defeat. He had survived two wars and defeated the Titian Lord only to be bested by a stupid gas machine.

"Is that your Dad?"

Mark had just reached the top of the queue. The woman behind the counter was pointing out the window towards the gas machine they had pulled up at. Mark had to laugh. His dad was leaning against the machine with a look of utter misery on his face.

"Unfortunately it is"

The lady gave him a sympathetic smile as she scanned the pasties and various other unhealthy things Mark had selected.

"That machine is temperamental. Tell him he needs to keep his note to the left of the slot or he could be there all day"

"Thanks"

Mark paid the lady strolled towards his dad. He really wished he had his phone on him to take a picture of this moment but he had left it on his seat when he got out. He could imagine Aunt Clarisse reaction to seeing the photo. The Hero of Olympus defeated by an inanimate object. He could not keep he smirk off his face as he took the twenty from his father and feed it into the machine as the woman had directed. The look on his father's face when the machine accepted the money was priceless. As Mark lifted the nozzle into the tank and began to fill it Percy turned into something like a five year old and sat into the car in a huff. Mark laughed at this reaction and replaced the nozzle before getting back in the car. His dad looked like he wanted to sit with arms crossed over his chest forever but someone had to drive. Soon they were back on the road again and Percy tried to keep up his huff but with Mark giving him funny looks they soon descended into a fit of giggles. Mark was not going to confess that the lady had told how to work the machine. Instead he kept looking at his father out of the corner of his eye and shaking his head. He kept it up for a few miles but then they fell into hysteria and he had tires streaming down his face. His dad was such a dufuss.

They were over three quarters of the way there when it happened.

The Cadillac came out of nowhere and ploughed straight into them.

They didn't stand a chance.


	2. Chapter 2: Groceries

**A/N: So a friend of a friend (You know who you are even if I don't...if that makes sense) told me to write one of these and since I haven't the foggest how to edit chapter content I thought I'd stick it here.**

**So Hi! This is the first one of these I've put up here and I haven't quite got the hang of all the different functions and sayings yet (what does AU mean mean anyway?) so please be patient! First things first; i cannot spell to save my life so we will ignore most of the mistakes (unless they are hindering your understanding of the story then please point them out!) Also the tenses are a bit all over the place but just go with it. ^.^**

**So anyway this is a depressing little story that has been rolling round my head and on scraps of paper for months. Hopefully it will piece together into a somwhat decent story.**

**Reviews, flames and all that jazz is excepted. I never really understood all that "reviews motivate me!" stuff that authors used to write at the end of there story but then I got my first review ever.  
**

**I way like:  
(To the tune of "Like a Boss by the Lonely Island")  
*Gets review, crazy dance, weird prurient type thing, slams foot into table, crumbles in pain, calls the doctor, gets an x-ray, has broken foot, gets put in plaster, hobbles home in shame, makes up story, mother tells the truth, reputation ruined, move to Canada (nothing against Canada it just fits), become a hermit, live with penguins (LIKE A BOSS!)*  
**

**Okay maybe not that extreme but I did do a weird prurient type thing that kinda scared my brother. I'm rambelling...**

**Anyway Mark is an OC but everything belongs to Rick**

**Oh and a Cadillac is a type of car for anyone who didn't know**

**And on with the story...**

Chapter 2: Groceries

The pain of losing a child. Sally Blofis knew that feeling better than anyone. Losing a child that you never got to hold, to love and to care for – the pain is almost unbearable. But to lose a child that had been the centre of your world since they were born? That pain is every parent's worst nightmare.

Paul and Sally had arrived at Montank while the sun was still in the sky. The battered little cabin sat proudly against a backdrop of the mighty ocean. It's half painted façade made Sally laugh. Percy, Mark and Paul had attempted to paint it last summer but they ended up putting more paint on each other than on the actual building. The left side was perfectly painted in a nice teal blue that caught the sunlight and gave a nice homely glow. The other looked like it had been used for paintball target practice. The mad array of splodges and splats were accompanied by hand prints, smiley faces and even a man sized footprint above the window. She had no idea how they had managed to get that there.

Opening the front door was like opening the lid to a time capsule of memories. A fine dust had settled on every surface and the sudden gust created by the movement created a mini dust storm. Sally inhaled the musty smell of the cabin. It was her favourite smell. To others it was the smell of a stuffy room that hadn't been opened in a long time but to her it was everything. It was the funny they were going to have, it was the memories of the fun they had already had. It was everything that was good and right about life and it inhabited most of Sally's best memories.

Sally remembered the first time she came to this cabin. She had been quite young and it was her first holiday on her own. She did not have to worry about her uncle anymore, he had moved on to a better place. Sally was happy for him because he had suffered towards the end and as much as she would miss him she wouldn't wish that on anyone. She thought it would be a good idea to take a break before she got back to real life. She had no money, no education and no future but she would worry about that later. For now it was just her, the beach and her copy of The Old Man and the Sea.

She had come back every summer since. Back to this same cabin and the happy memories it held. Sometimes she came by herself, sometimes others came with her. It didn't matter to her just as long as she could watch the sun set on the sea as she sat on the sandy shore. Some would wonder if she was lonely out there by the shore but Sally never felt that way. She felt she could tell the sea anything and that it listened and that everything would be okay.

Maybe that was what had attracted Poseidon attention. She wasn't really shocked when he had appeared. Somehow it just felt right. Everyone was shocked when she told them she was pregnant. They hadn't even known she was meeting someone. At first some thought fowl play may have been a factor because she wouldn't tell them anything about the father. Not his name, nor where he came from. Where did she meet him? Was he going to support her and the baby? But Sally just smiled and brushed there questions off. She knew they were worried about her but she didn't care. She was so happy. She knew the dangers and hardships that her life would now hold but she wouldn't have swapped it for anything.

The first time she had taken Percy to Montank he was barely three weeks old. She sat by the sea and waited. She got a few funny looks but she didn't mind. He came as the sun set just as he always did. The look of pride on his face melted her heart. Even as a baby Percy was a carbon copy of his father. He wasn't even a month old and he already had the same gravity-defying black hair that Poseidon had. She just knew he was going to be a heartbreaker. Just like his father.

They started cleaning and airing the cabin just as they did every time they visited. A routine of sorts had developed over the years. Sally would open the windows and turn down the beds while Paul would sweep the floors. When everything was clean and tidy they would sit and have a cup of tea. Then Percy and Mark would arrive and mess the whole place up again.

The sea was relatively calm today. Paul and Sally sat holding hands looking out at a yacht that moved slowly across the horizon. This had been a hard year for them both but they were determined to move on. Maybe their plans of starting a family had fallen through but they would get through it. It was hard but they would pull through.

Sally was alone when she got the phone call. Paul had gone to buy groceries for the weekend. The shrill ringing of her mobile disturbed her reading. She put her book down and spent a few seconds rooting through her bag for it. It was a number she didn't recognise. She didn't think much of it as she pushed green.

"Hello?"

"Mrs Jackson?"

The voice on the other end was a deep tenner and had a tone of authority to it. Sally felt like she was talking to her old school principal. He had been a kind man with a deep voice much like the callers. He had always seen the best in everyone and Sally considered him one of her role models.

"It's Blofis now"

Sally was proud to have Pauls name. She knew Percy still took the mickey and called him Blowfish from time to time but it was all in jest. She had to admit that that is also what she thought Paul had said the first time he had introduced himself.

"Mrs Blofis this is Sgt Harris from the Long Island Traffic Corps. I'm afraid your son Percy has been involved in a collision."

Sally couldn't move. Her whole world had stopped. Tears streamed down her face without her even realising. She slumped to her knees taking little hiccupping breaths. This was every parent's greatest fear. Her baby was hurt and she wasn't there to protect him. He may have been touching thirty but he was still her baby.

"We need you to come to the hospital."

Sally barely heard what the sergeant was saying. At that moment every worst case scenario was running through her head, every near miss like the time he was wounded by the Keres, like the time he almost drowned in the earth that time in Alaska, like that time Gaia struck him down and Nico raced to stop him crossing the river and that time…She took a calming breath. He came out okay those times he was sure to come out okay this time. He would be fine and they would all come out and sit on the beach and have a good laugh about the heart attack that he nearly gave Sally. Mark would do a dramatic re-enactment…Mark

"Is Mark okay? His son Mark was traveling with him"

There was a hushed discussion on the other end. All Sally could make out was "passenger" and "positive Id". When the discussion came to some sort of conclusion Sgt Harris was back on the line.

"Yes his son was with him. Are you able to reach the hospital?"

Sally noticed that the sergeant avoided answering her question.

"Will you need assistance in getting here? Shall I dispa-"

"My husband can..."

Sally didn't know how she had managed to speak at all. She had a bad feeling in her gut and it was threatening to consume her.

"Your husband can drive? Okay Ms Blofis. We will have an officer waiting in reception for your arrival. Is that okay?"

Sally nodded her head. There was an uncomfortable silence before Sally remembers she was on the phone. She just managed to squeak a "Yes" before the sergeant sign off and ended the call.

She was still slumped on the floor when Paul arrived back. The bags of groceries he was carrying hit the floor spilling their contents everywhere. He was by her side in an instant.

It took them three hours to reach the hospital. As they silently entered reception the waiting officer rose to great them. No words were spoken just a grim smile and a firm hand shake. Corridors blurred as the policeman escorted them towards the back of the hospital. Paul noticed that they passed both A&E and ICU and a feeling of foreboding increased with every step he took. Sally was like a zombie at his side.

Their journey ended where all journeys end – the morgue.


End file.
